10 Super Easy SEO Copywriting Tips for Improved Link&nbspBuilding

The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.

Compare the two posts below, both written by the exact same SEO expert and each containing around the same number of words. Without knowing the subject, can you guess which post earned more links?

Try 378 to 6. In addition to its visual appeal, the left post was more timely, useful and informative - all hallmarks of copywriting grace.

The “secrets” of copywriting have existed since before the ancient Greeks. Generations of Don Drapers have perfected the craft. Today we use computer analysis and data mining to uncover the most effective SEO practices. Rand’s early peek at the Ranking Factors hints at some of these factors. My colleague Casey Henry conducted a study of link-worthy material that included elements such as title length and word frequency. Fantastic stuff and I hope he does another such study soon.

So why don’t more authors take advantage? Why all the cardboard looking blog posts?

Here’s the takeaway. To earn links, use copywriting to organize your content.

1. Write for Power Skimmers

Steve Krug’s words of wisdom for website usability in his book Don’t Make Me Think ring true for all elements of SEO copywriting.

"We don’t read pages. We scan them.” -Steve Krug

Krug advocates for a billboard style of design. This means using language, images, layout and color to make your material stand out and shine. Think of motorcycle riders speeding past billboards. Which one will they remember?

To be fair, prettying up mediocre content won’t make it any better. But does your best work look like it belongs in an encyclopedia?

Unless you are Wikipedia, don’t look like Wikipedia.

2. Why Headline Formulas Work

Headlines organize your content by making a promise to the reader. The body of your content delivers on that promise.

Using the “who-what-why” formula isn’t the only way to format your headlines, but it works. Another technique I like is to ask a question, e.g., “Have You Been Secretly Penalized by Google?”

Don't be scared of headline formulas. Instead of "gimmicky," think of them as a framework for the promise you make. When I’m stuck for headline inspiration, I surf the fantastic resources over at Copyblogger.

There are literally dozens of effective headline formulas out there, so you need never worry about repeating yourself.

3. Get 20% More with Numbers

I made that number up. Why?

Numbers grab our attention. Look at the titles to some of the most linked-to posts on SEOmoz.

Whether in a headline or a list, numbers light up the ordered, mathematical part of our brain to make content more attractive. It also provides you with a way to structure your material in a way that makes sense.

4. Free and Easy Power Words

My writing life changed when I read Robert W. Bly’s seminal work, The Copywriter’s Handbook. He introduced me to the power of choosing the right language for successful communication.

Although some of his “power” words belong in the back of a Sunday newspaper advertisement, their effectiveness can’t be denied. These include words like quick, easy, guarantee and free.

“Free is the most powerful word in the copywriter’s vocabulary. Everybody wants to get something for free.” -Robert W. Bly

Words are magic. The opposite of power words includes language like try, maybe, might, possibly and perhaps. These "halfway" words kill your writing.

The point is not to use a rote list of words like a checklist in your copy, but rather be conscious of the power (or lack of) your language. Don’t hedge your bets with weak prose.

5. A Picture is Worth 1000 Clicks

Rethink your visuals. Visuals are essential to any story and include:

Photographs

Artwork

Charts and Graphs

Slidedecks

Video

Infographics

The wrong way to add images is to buy stock or steal them off of the web. Instead, make every effort to include original media in your content. A simple, 100% original hand drawing attracts more interesting any day of the week than using Parked Domain Girl.

6. Use Sub-Headlines or Die Trying

This is a no-brainer. Imagine the front page of a newspaper with just one headline. All other text is equal. You wouldn’t read it, or you would tire quickly if you did. Our brains don’t work that way.

We want things broken up and organized.

If your text is longer than 250-400 words, you must use sub-headlines. No exceptions.

7. When in Doubt, List it Out

This entire post is a list. Try these numbers on for size:

75% of the top 20 post on SEOmoz contain a bulleted list

60% feature a numbered list

Why do lists work so well? Why is David Letterman’s Top Ten the most anticipated part of his show, even if it’s not as funny as the rest of the show?

Lists are the building blocks of ideas. When we go to the grocery store, we don’t write a story – that’s ineffective. To communicate your thoughts quickly and effectively, nothing gets to the root of the matter like a list can.

Humans crave order. Use lists to create structure and build your content from the ground up.

8. Quotes

My all-time favorite use of effective quoting comes from Michael Crichton’s science fiction work Timeline. He juxtaposes two ideas against each other to explain a single concept about quantum theory.

“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory does not understand it.” NEILS BOHR, 1927

“Nobody understands quantum theory.” RICHARD FEYNMAN, 1967

Utilize quotes to set your ideas apart.

9. The Bold and the Italic

Along the same lines, use bold to emphasize important points. If you don’t have important points, you have bigger problems.

It's best to practice what you preach. I'm amazed at the number low quality, how-to copywriting articles that completely contradict themselves on the page. Best practices aren't something to just talk about, but something you practice every single time you hit the 'publish' button.

The value gained from better content multiplies exponentially. 2x the effort can earn 10x the links.

Love the point about using original rich media. I'm very guilty of using stock images. In fact istock may be my favorite website - but that's great motivation to create unique content. Also offers up a better opportunity to gain traffic from image search if done correctly! :)

Fantastic resource - iStock, albeit abused. I admit to being guilty of this myself. I plan on writing an entire post on best practices for using visuals in content. In many ways they can be effective as text for SEO.

Very needed post Cyrus, as - and I think many agree with this - I read many posts that without any doubt great posts, but that do not obtain the right success because of the way they are written.

Content is King, says the old tune, but remember to dress the King, or people will laugh.

If i may, I would add some others points:

1) Images: if its possible use Flickr or any other real photos source instead of images' banks. Real photos gives to posts a better, more impacting, force to the concept of an article. Images' bank are, honestly, cold and sometimes so much seen. Personally, whenever it's justified, I see if can use real images' bank, like the Times one or the National Geographic ones (this latter offers them to its readers with CC policy);

2) Visual: if photos can explain more than 100 words, a video can explain more than 1000. But beware to not make the video overcome the written part itself. If it is used just as an example, I suggest to go for 1minute max videos. Totally different consideration have to be made if you want to make a video the central part of your content

3) Quotes. In order to make outstand the main concepts of your posts, I usually suggest to use the quote html format in order to make more visible the more significant phrases of the contents itself. This way you can make easily understand what really is the post about also to those ones who don't read, but peep a post.

4) Old rethoric rule about structure: Introduction, Main Content (better if with Thesis/Antithesis/Syntesis) and short conclusion. That doesn't mean you could not going directly into the discourse, but that should be justified (for instance putting first a real life example of what are you going to talk about).

5) Please... when you finish to write a post/article, let it rest before publishing it... and go playing pool, have a beer or anything else. Then reopen what you wrote and correct it (gramatic, ortography, bad explained concepts...). Readers will thank you.

6) About Italic (lol)... I use it when I use foreign words or when I've to cite a title (of a post or movie or book)... it's old school habit :D

I have to agree with your last couple of points - letting content rest for a bit before reviewing and setting it live is always a good idea. I also tend to use italics when using foreign words. So don't worry, using italics doesn't make you ipso facto old-fashioned ;-) Maybe just European...

I always enjoy reading your comments "G." They always hold a lot of value to go along with a great post like this, at least in my eyes. All of those points hit home with me as I try to utilize them in my techniques while developing a site. Thanks for sharing! Thumbs up mate.

Its cool love to know all these things, Thanks. But i must say images will give you good backlinks because most of the bloggers posts images into post without uploading to server they linkup images through URL

Good copywriting tips. I also apply some of the tips to my clients' reports as you sell your suggestions and ideas through them. Even if i don't have time/inclination/resources to embed images or video i just make sure that the contents are well spaced, properly formatted and are broken down into small paragraphs.

I prefer jargon free and conversational tone for my contents and avoid superfluous words. "Keep it short and simple" is the right phrase to be used here.

If you design your posts for power skimmers by writing yet another list post, using the bold tag generously and applying headings above every other paragraph, well guess what: you train your readers to skim your content.

If you like writing fast food content that's easily forgotten, that's fine, it has a lot of legitimate uses and benefits. Subconsciously, the tendency can become to devalue content that is built for skimming, I know I do.

The articles and blog posts I've bookmarked or made any lasting impression on me this year weren't written according to the fast food recipe, or aimed at power skimmers, many of them don't even include pictures or multiple headings. That's not to say I'm against making content good looking and legible - I love and appreciate great design, but if you design your content with skimmers in mind, you train your readers to skim.And it can discourage writers to push the publish button because now they think they have to perform all this additional work, like spending hours to find the perfect photo to fit a piece of writing, only to have readers consume your page without it so much as passing any intellectual digestion.

Peter, you make a great point. I often read long, text-only acticles in publications like the New York Times that include very few of the elements listed in this post. These authors use copywriting skills of a different sort. Skills that less than 1% of us mortals can ever hope to master, but copywriting skills nonetheless.

For the rest of us, we have to resort to other copywriting techniques to organize our content and communicate our ideas more effectively.

OK, I don't want to be Nellie Negative here, and I don't want to nitpick, but....

"Try 378 to 6. In addition to its visual appeal, the left post was more timely, useful and informative - all hallmarks of copywriting grace."

If this statement is true, a) the author's comparison at the top of the page is not a true split test and the comparison is wonky and b) timeliness, usefulness, and informativeness aren't really hallmarks of copywriting

Taking the time to implement these tips can make the world of difference and help to attract those all important links. I hear what your saying about those stock photo's! Some of them are just damn right nasty and do nothing for a post.

Good copywriting is an art for sure and is one that you seem to have mastered well!! ;-)

Great post Cyrus! CopyBlogger's Magnetic headlines is one of my favorite resources. You had a lot of great reminders in here. Making it easy to read quickly is huge - It's surprising how many folks don't really read blogs.

Excellent post, and this is a method we've always used when revising text on client's business websites. What good is superb content if no one is going to read over it? Bullet points, short paragraphs, and imagery can turn a block of words into a meaningful page of content.

fantastic blog. my only quesiton is who would give this a thumbs down? To your point #3 made me stop why? because i try (not always successfully) to be #1. After hitting point 3 I went back to read the previous content in greater detail, and changing my pace to finsih the article. Well done.

I agree with the pictures on people love a unique image. Mashable is very image heavy these days compared with the past.

Also top point on the top lists, defiantly a sure fire way to achieve more interest into your subject matter. but people can not get carried away and have top 10 lists for every blog posts/piece of content hehe =)

Great article. I think that its a great indicator that writing endless text only doesnt help with inbound marketing. Quality graphics and other visual elements which make the translate text from useful to awesome. The moment you post awesome content, you need not make efforts to gain links to it.

Very interesting and indeed a practile overview of popularising webpages or blog posts. I am sure that this will help lots of webmasters to reduce the bounce rate of visitors or to increase visitor's stick time. Thanks again for sharing such thoughts.

That time-on-page graphic at the top tells me everything I need to know. How appropriate to encourage the use of more graphics with.... a graphic! I will do my best to never again make a post without at least one ORIGINAL graphic!

This has to be one of the best bits of information I have read about how to structure an article / blog post to increase usability. Plus the fact that the better written content is, the more links it generated.

Great post and sounds a lot like many of the posts I read on Copyblogger. I do take issue with the "good design can't save mediocre content" remark though. A lot of our clients have pretty mediocre messaging but even mediocre messaging can be organized into a visual hierarchy which makes that messaging read better. It always amazes me how few of our website design clients have no innate feeling for visual/messaging hierarchy. I'm also of the opinion that there's nothing wrong with using decent stock photography -- as long as it is well-chosen and relevant. We usually tinker with the stock a bit to bring it in line with our blog's brand.

Well said - and I agree. Good copywriting and graphic elements can improve any content. The danger is using these techniques as a substitute for creating original content that is useful, timely, informative and entertaining. No one wants 100 top 10 lists that are all spam, but 100 top ten lists that educated me, made me laugh or provoked me into action? That's copywriting we can believe in.

Great numbered list of headline grabbing attention article that defintiely will attract links, comments and discussion.

I think the whole take away is not just copywriting but effective visual communication.

You can write the best copy but without a great presentation, which means quality, design, thought and insight, it is useless because most people will not bother reading through blocks of paragraphs; no matter how great it is.

Especially on the internet. So content needs to be developed with visual aids, high impact words and contrasting elements like good spacing.

The side by side view at the begining is awesome. Poeple want to get quick facts first. I often find that the headline or image or combo after a quick scan of an article is what really leads me to stop and read an article. Having titles to highlight the key points of an article is a must. Great read. Thanks for sharing.

Great post!! I particularly like points 3 and 8. Will try these strategies on my web pages and see the results.

On a different note, I have a couple of queries:

1. Is there a way to accurately measure the page rank value that a web page contributes to the web page it references?

2. Do you think it is a good idea to promote your website by contributing to related topics on wikipedia and then providing a reference to your website through wikipedia? Is there a way to measure the benefits (for example, increase in page rank) you reap from such a strategy?

Great post. I like the style you have explained everything. Moz blog has great clarity & transparent writers. Helped me a lot. I will love to share a bit lengthy but great post about How to write killing titles, i think it helped me a lot & will help other readers too.

"Using the “who-what-why” formula isn’t the only way to format your headlines, but it works. Another technique I like is to ask a question, e.g., “Have You Been Secretly Penalized by Google?” " I use questions all the time in my copywriting blogs...an effective tip is to combine it with an answer! I also utilize the numbers in headlines ALL THE FRICKIN' TIME...like I am addicted to it. I make all my writers do it too.

I also liked what you said about not overlooking formulas. Too many times people just assume these are cooked and avoidable. They don't know it's a structure...just as you said. Great stuff!

Good post. I find that good writing is a lot about making things straight forward for people. And that's why I always tend to write in small, manageable chunks. It's easy to digest and doesn't take an immense amount of concentration to read.

Great reminder of the value of a good word-smith. Another great read about getting your point across is "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath. Some great, easy to apply principles of how to get your message to not only be read, but to stick.

Very well written post. I think the main parts of it for me is to start including more numbers and lists. My industry is data driven, but I think if I find more creative ways of engaging my user base via these methods I might be onto a winner!
Regards
Aaron

This is a well written and important post that you have made here. Knowing how to format blogs are so important, especially for folks like me who reads hundreds of articles each day. I skip the blogs that are a huge text block. I also am attracted to Top 10's list---how ironic :).

I just wrote a blog post yesterday about effective ways to use photos. You should check it out: http://efanpage.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/a-picture-is-worth-1000-views-how-to-use-photos-for-engagement/

Great post! Loved number 2 with the Wired cover and key points. Soon I will be having a post on, "The Proper Email Etiquette," on my website that points out the importance of keeping an email simple, short, and to the point. Look for it this month.

I do both SEO and web design in my line of work. Some of the points you make go beyond copywriting and speak directly to web layout, content ranking, and content structure. Great summary! Definitely already sent this one around the office. - Kyle